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From idea to replacing full-time salary in 4 months

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Re: From idea to replacing full-time salary in 4 months

#171

Post by stevewilhelm »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #52
turkeyman wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems like it would just delay the inevitable, he needs to find competent cleaners that are unwilling to strike out on their own. If he manages to keep the cleaners as contractors, then his future will be absolutedomestics.com.au. They have done incredibly well for themselves and have set themselves up exactly as this guy has. I'm thinking it must be more profitable making a decent profit while losing clients an…

> competent cleaners that are unwilling to strike out on their own // Or get his subcontractors (ie the cleaners themselves) to accept a non-compete, possibly with a specific figure attached should they jump ship.

California employers cannot restrict the livelihood of their current or former employees.

Re: From idea to replacing full-time salary in 4 months

#172

Post by grey-area »

personlurking wrote: post #167
localcasestudy wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have a full time job.

I understand, though I'm merely stating that from firsthand experience seeing my ex work, she was going at it like crazy just to get it up and running smoothly. Hard to understand the difference between 7h vs. 90h per week for two successful people who had never worked in the cleaning biz before.

Perhaps the difference can be explained by this guy's employees - sounds like he started with exactly the right person as contractor No. 1 (or employee No. 1, given the other discussions on this thread). That has allowed the company to scale and train others to the same high standards.

Re: From idea to replacing full-time salary in 4 months

#173

Post by joering2 »

localcasestudy wrote: post #158
joering2 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

hi there. I dont even know your name, and reading thoroughly reddit, I couldnt find it anywhere either. my impression is you are extremely business-smart person that is just learning business. You are not afraid of making mistakes knowing every mistake is an opportunity to learn new things, plus most mistakes can be fixed. please write a after-post about your financial situation after converting every emp into w2 as…

Sory to hear about your work situation. Hope something pans out if you decide to go back, but yeah in the meanwhile, it may be a good time to start something. Thanks for the kind words of encouragement. I tried to email you but didn't see the link to do it after I got to your profile (not sure if it's because I'm so new here or I'm just blind). Please send me a message on the maid site and I'll respond right away.

I did send you an email last night to booking@... hope you got it!

Re: From idea to replacing full-time salary in 4 months

#174

Post by wizzard »

pbhjpbhj wrote: post #153
wizzard wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't sign non-competes as a developer, much less would I expect those in the service industry to sign one. That would be taking away their livelihood. Both of these suggestions sound like a form of slavery. Employees are free to come and go as they choose. What they should not be able to do is poach specific clients. It happens all the time, though, and what exactly is to be gained from suing someone making $15/ho…

> What they should not be able to do is poach specific clients. // I find your indignation interesting as this is exactly what the non-compete would be preventing - the subcontractor from working directly for the client that you (the main contractor) introduced them to.

I was thinking more about the main thrust of non-competes I've come across, which is that you're not allowed to compete in the same industry. I read an article a couple of years ago about hairstylists and other service industry workers being out of a job for 12 months because they'd been forced to sign non-competes.

Not poaching clients is a common clause though, apparently. I haven't really run across that clause because I don't have to power to solicit clients for my employers anyway.

Re: From idea to replacing full-time salary in 4 months

#175

Post by localcasestudy »

jefft wrote: post #161
edw519 wrote: post #53

This time next year on reddit: "From working my ass off 90 hours per week running a business that wouldn't scale to nice salary/benefits for 40 hours. I'm taking home the same net and I feel like I'm on vacation." I don't want to sound too snarky and I really admire OP's initiative and ability to make things happen, but this just doesn't smell right. It's easy to get excited by nice revenue in the beginning (as he sh…

The comments here are really hitting home to me how self-aggrandizing and toxic hacker news is becoming. This guy got off his ass and started a real business. How about a pat on the back or words of encouragement? Here's a dose of optimism for you, OP: Good for you. You got this far, you will figure out the challenges ahead of you. “It is not the critic who counts" has never been more true.

Wow this means a lot, thank you very much!

Re: From idea to replacing full-time salary in 4 months

#176

Post by localcasestudy »

radicalbyte wrote: post #51
gexla wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure they realize at this point that they could be running the same model. The profits at this point probably aren't even enough to cover the salary for one person to be doing everything this guy is doing. The cleaners could do these things themselves, but they would still need to compensate themselves for their time. So, the profits would just go to more hours worked rather than going towards everyone getting a…

> The cleaners could do these things themselves Why do you assume that? There are plenty of people doing those kind of jobs who can't read or can't handle basic arithmetic. It's not a given that they'll be able to set themselves up as this guy has done.

Yeah it's not easy.

Our teams do certain things well:

Cleaning, organizing, and having a nice friendly presence that makes clients want to have them back in their home over and over again.

I do certain things fairly well:

Managing web design (I feel like i have a fairly good eye), writing web copy, client acquisition (adwords, twitter), finding ways to adopt high-tech practices into low tech industries (I think we're the first cleaning company with an actual affiliate program), SEO, branding, and a few extra things I can't think of now.

I'm not great at any of these things, but I feel like I'm at least competent at many of them.

I don't have the skills they have. They don't have the skills I have. We both realize this and figured we could work together and benefit each other.

Re: From idea to replacing full-time salary in 4 months

#177

Post by localcasestudy »

grey-area wrote: post #45
ricardobeat wrote: post #7

It's a nice personal achievement, but I can't help myself cringing at business models of this kind. It's plain old extraction of surplus-value, adding very little to the economy as a whole. The workers would be better off operating as a cooperative, I wish they had the education to know that from the outset, and the means to implement it.

The value he is providing is a booking service, dealing with complaints, etc, no more, no less. Turns out lots of people value that quite a lot; almost as much as the cleaning itself. I don't think you can really argue that this adds no value to the transactions - he is finding these cleaners more work than they would otherwise have had.

Value as I see it: Clients Book and pay online We show up on time We follow up after cleanings so clients rate the team We deliver wine with each cleaning We provide ridiculous customer service We have a 200% guarantee that we actually honor We simplify the price structure (cost is tied to number of bedrooms, that's it), no need to come out and do quotes

and more. It's a lot more than just, hey you make X, I'll charge X+$45 and we'll all be happy. I had to build entire systems around delivering top notch service to justify raising our pricing points and creating premium experiences for the client.

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